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New
Research from American Express Finds CFOs Around the World Expanding Influence
and Roles in Businesses

Only
13 Percent of CFOs Say Role Has Remained the Same Since Recession

NEW YORK,
September 30, 2013 -- CFOs are likely to have a greater role in business plans
and development for 2014, thanks in part to an increase in their overall
influence in recent years. Research from American Express Company (NYSE: AXP)
and CFO Research showed that 65 percent of finance executives from around the
world say CFOs have become more influential as a result of the economic
downturn. This is especially true in the U.S., where 85 percent of CFOs report
seeing an increase in influence, according to the sixth annual American
Express/CFO Research Global Business and Spending Monitor.

CFO Role
Has Definitively Changed
CFOs' roles are growing along with their influence. CFOs recognize that to be
effective today, they must look for new ways to apply their financial expertise
– in fact, only 13 percent of respondents say that role of the CFO has remained
the same since the economic downturn. According to survey respondents, finance
executives are looking beyond the traditional tasks and taking on the following
business management roles:

These new
roles are also reflected in the skills that finance executives identified as
necessary for success in today's business world. Strategic thinking led the
list of top skills identified by half of all respondents as key to their work
over the next two years. This was followed by skills such as risk-management
acumen (41 percent), analytic thinking (32 percent), and international business
acumen (30 percent).

CFOs
Contribution to Growth
The majority (84 percent) of finance executives believe they will be providing
even more input than ever on how to improve their company's ability to deliver
value. When it comes to how CFOs can best contribute to that value and to
business growth, finance executives were more likely to focus on business
improvements rather than market changes. Half of all respondents feel that
advocating for breakthroughs on new products or services is one of the greatest
contributions CFOs can make to drive business growth. Following closely behind,
46 percent say that encouraging innovation by improving existing assets would
be another way that CFOs could enable growth.

For the
full American Express/CFO Research Global Business and Spending Monitor,
which includes a statistically sound sampling of senior finance executives in
the U.S., Europe, Canada, Latin America, Asia and Australia, visit http://about.americanexpress.com/news/.

About
CFO Research
CFO Research is the sponsored research group of CFO Publishing LLC, which
produces CFO magazine, CFO.com, and CFO Conferences. CFO Publishing, a
portfolio company of Seguin Partners, is the leading business-to-business media
brand focused on the information needs of senior finance executives. CFO
Publishing has long-standing relationships with more than 500,000 finance
executives.